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Never Too Young To Help Feed These Sheep-
| 1Sa 3:5 |
And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here [am] I; for thou calledst me. And he said,
I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down. |
 1Sa 3:6 |
And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and
said, Here [am] I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again. |
| 1Sa 3:8 |
And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli,
and said, Here [am] I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the
child. |
| 1Sa 3:9 |
Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee,
that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. |
It is a terrific and pretty scary thing to hear a new voice telling you that you are walking the wrong way. I know that
first we hear the voice of our parents saying to us, don't talk to strangers. So when we hear the voice of Jesus Christ speaking
to us we immediately say you are a stranger and mama and daddy and grandma and uncle and auntie told me don't talk to strangers.
In your life right hee and right now the voice of Jesus Christ is speaking to you, trying to tell you that he has died
for you so that your sins may be forgiven and that you may have the ability to know the Eternal Father God is your Eternal
Father.
You have been trained to push aside the voice of God.
I present to you the story of Eli the priest of the temple and of young Samuel who was in the temple to be trained for
temple service by Eli. I guess we would say today that young Samuel was learning to be a preacher or a minister or a
prophet or an evangelist or an apostle.
However we can break it down for today's language we must see that young Samuel was being taught how to be a leader.
And his teaching began very early because one night he heard a voice speak to him and call his name. It happened right
as he was getting ready for bed. Scared he jumped up and ran to Eli and asked if Eli had called him by name. Eli told him,
"No, go back to bed, young Samuel."
A second time young Samuel is trying to get some sleep and he hears the voice call him by name again and he jumps up
out of his bed and runs to Eli's room and asks if Eli has called him by name. Again Eli says, "No, young Samuel, I have not
called you by your name. It is bed time go and lie down and get yourself some rest. You have a busy day tomorrow."
The voice calls young Samuel a third time and young Samuel runs full speed into Eli's roomand asks his teacher one more
time if Eli has called him by his nam, and this time Eli understands that young Samuel is being spoken to by the voice of
God. Eli tells young Samuel to go and lie back down and wait for the voice again and this time to answer, Here I am, Lord,
speak for your servant heareth."
Many of you have already been spoken to by God in your lives.
I am talking about young people being spoken to by God and hearing God's voice clearly. It is a special time when God
is speaking with us, any of us, but especially when we are young people. God gave young Samuel special instructions when God
spoke to him.
Young Samuel ran from the voice because he could not find where the voice was coming from or rather who the voice belonged
to. Young Samuel's teacher couldn't figure out the voice for a while, but then God showed up for them both to be calm
and well. God does not want you to be scared when he speaks to you, but He wants you to know that He speaks to you because
HE loves you very much. Hope that you are well and calm and cared for by God's loving arms even right now.
blessings,
Prophet Israel Saunders
Stand Up! Now Wave Your Hands In The Air!
You woke up hearing momma and daddy calling your name , throw your hands up! You had a winter coat on and heard
a pocketfull of change, throw your hands up! Yeah, throw your hands up!
It is a new day that wakes us up and moves us into the progression of things. Every day you are getting older and yesterdays
are never to be seen or walked in again. That is what so many people say. That is how so many people feel it is supposed to
happpen, how it is supposed to go down. But here I sit trying to figure out why yesterdays are like our bookbags and
our outfits. I wake up again not really wanting to get moving because sleep is so good and so precious and I do the
same things this morning that I did yesterday morning to get ready for the day. I go to the same busstop, I sit in the same
classrooms, I hear the lessons of the day from the same teachers, and I face the same pressures like homework, and listening
in class and eating right and not being bad, and these are things I see everyday and maybe the reason that I get tired in
school is because everyday it's the same thang. THat's not correct grammar, the correct word is thing. But everyday it is
the same thing.
I have felt the bruising of yesterdays while wlaking in right now. I can still hear the v oices from the yesterdays calling
me, talking with me, telling me that right is what I need to do. The voices I hear from yesterdays are voices of people who
I loved and cared about and also of people that were strangers and who I didn't know how to care about. I wonder why
the voices are still talking to me if yesterdays don't matter anymore because today is here. Some voices and faces and motivations
for your life dear friends will only be able to come from yesterdays. As you look around in the newness of today and right
now you will find some troubles that look like yesterday but have changed the way they smell or the way they feel or the way
they sound. As you walk around in right now dear friends you will find in memory the steps that seem like putting
the fork to your mouth or eating carrots with your hands and no silverware. It will be easy to do and without troubles. I
wirtie this for the times and the places when you will be hurting and crying and saddend by the troubles
of right now that come. In yesterdays are the reasons to believe you can make it. Grandmas and grandpas, aunties
and uncles, mommies and daddies, teachers, brothers, sisters, friends. Even though hurts may have come from all of these people
at some time it is their love and their caring that lives with you, inside of your heart and in your mind and in your
whole life. You can make it. You can reach higher. You can live longer. You can hope stronger. You can become more.
You can give more. You can thank God more. And just remember that new days are from God's grace, while yesterdays
are God's gift.
A New Year, A New Chance To Do What You Got To Do
by Prophet Israel Saunders
This is the ending of the first week that you have been back in school, well, most of you anyways, and there
are so many things to talk about, so many things that you are feeling, so many new choices and chances and so many more responsibilities.
It can be heartwarming to see a test or a project that has recieved a well deserved grade. It is heart breaking
to see your classmates wearing newer and more popular clothes than you or having the best and most expensive shoes than you.
I know because I was once exactly where you are.
A wise man once shared with me that I only had one job and that was to go to school. Getting good grades
was the unspoken second that I hard a little more trouble getting right, but I know now that all I had to do then was call
on my Tutor Jesus Christ and ask Him to guide me through my day so I could be sucessful.
In schools there are fights and cool kids and bookworms and sports players and chess clubs and all sorts
of things and this is just a small note to say keep your head up even when the class is only interested in lunch or in sleeping
through the class assignment.
God is there with you dear friends and because He is there is nothing that you cannot do in that classroom,
on that field, in that library, because Jesus Christ helps you to do all things through Him because He loves you.
Now don't try and pimp Jesus and blame it on Him when your test grades come back in the D's and F's. He
didn't do that. Jesus Christ is always going to tell you what the right thing to do in any situation is.
Those bad test grades come from you not putting your schoolwork and your homework higher than your time
with your buddies. I speak to the guys and the girls here.
You can make it through anything because Christ has not forgotten you.
Hoping you all have a wonderful and enjoyable Labor Day and that you all return to school next week refreshed
and ready to take on the business of learning.
In the immortal words of my Grandma Francis, Be Smart.
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God, we come asking that You in Your mighty wonderful power keep all these children as they journey off
to school and into new days of learning and of growing. Keep them safe from all hurts and harms and dangers all through the
day.
Help them to get along with their classmates, with their teachers, with everyone they come in contact with
during their days and we pray that the stress level in all the gathered there be kept down that no harmful situations may
arise.
Knowing You are the One who keeps us stocked with Joy and Peace and praying You always be near by us as
we breathe to be near by You. In Jesus Christ's name. Amen.
I Come Bearing Gifts- August 6, 2007
l come bearing gifts, is what my ears heard when news of my daddy coming to visit and pick us up came.
Oh, boy boy, what a great time to be had when daddy comes to pick us up, I would tell my sister who would just kind of
smile. She didn't know the excitement that lived in me then to hear those words.
Just like I don't know the excitement that lives in you as these words are spoken to you.
I just wanted to see my daddy.
I knew that he had something special for me, knew that he loved me and knew that he would give me only the best that
he had because I was his son.
Talking about daddies is tough though, isn't it?
We have seen daddies hurt mommies. We have seen daddies hurt us or our brothers and sisters. We might have even seen
daddies just break down and cry.
Well today I want us to start to look at God as a daddy.
Yeah, God is a daddy.
His Son was, who knows His Son's name?
What's God's Son's name? Yeah, you got it right!
God's Son's name is Jesus Christ and God loved Jesus Christ so very, very much.
I don't know what God actually did for Jesus Christ to show him that He really, really loved Him, but I'm sure that Jesus
was able to really see that God loved him so much.
Oh, I know what God did to show Jesus that He really loved him...God gave him a name that was above every
name all overthe universe and all down in the oceans and all over the mountains and all down inside the core of the earth.
God gave to Jesus His Son the most powerful name because He really, really loved him.
Our daddies love us very much too.
And today we are learning that God is our daddy too.
We can call God daddy because the Bible says that Jesus Christ was the firstborn among many brethren.
That means that Jesus was the oldest and that through His love and through God's love God saw that He wanted to have
some more children by the Holy Spirit and by faith and that is you and me and everybody that you see around you wherever you
are.
We are all God's children by faith.
Faith is what glues us to God's hug.
Ever been glued to something before?
Glue is sticky and messy and sometimes even tastes funny, but glue when it dries it makes macaroni stick to that purple
paper for that fish that we made for Mama at school to show mama how much we love her.
Well, faith is the glue that sticks us to God's hug.
We need God who we can call daddy; we need to feel His hug around us sometimes because it gets hard to know how we are
doing or when we feel bad because we fell and scraped our leg then we need God to hug us and tell us that He has just the
thing to fix us right on up and there it is we are seeing God who is our daddy too pull out the tape and the scrubby thing
that grandma uses on her dishes and the chicken wire and the pliers and the screwdriver and a little piece of rope and some
chewing gum and find a way to bandage us right on up.
God does that for us a lot. All the time as a matter of act because we hurt alot, don't we?
We fall a lot, don't we?
But the good thing to remember is that God loves us no matter what we do because His Son Jesus Christ- remember God is
Jesus Christ's daddy-Jesus Christ did a very good thing that make good very,very happy.
Jesus died for us.
Why?
Jesus Christ died for us that we might feel God bend down and hug us and take all the pain of the oowie away. *****
God who we call now call daddy,
please show us how to be smart in school and in our homes and when we are with our friends and please keep our mommies
and daddies safe and please keep being our daddy.
Thank you. Amen.
Jesus Is Like Ice Cream On A Hot Day!-July 5, 2007
Jesus is like ice cream on a hot day!
Ever needed to just hold an ice cream cone to feel better about your day. Somehow ice cream brings smiles
and busyness and concentration.
How many times ice cream is mentioned and right away all the pain of falling outside on tha gravel or of
falling of of that bike in front of everyone melts away.
I can remember my grandma's huse during the summer or on those weekends I stayed with her. She kept a big
ole bucket of vanilla ice cream in her deep freezer or a little carton of vanilla ice cream in her regular freezer and oh
the joy when she would say, "Want some of this here ice cream I got?"
Ice cream made it all better.
Well, Jesus is like that to so many people and to us too. I know you all are saying, "Now how is Jesus like
ice cream?"
Well, in our lives we can have days that are long and tiring and we have to say "Lord, help me please."
This is asking Jesus to be like ice cream to us because ice cream makes itall better. Sometimes we scrape our knees trying
to walk around and all we might be able to say is, "Oh Lord Jesus." We need to be able to find joy again and not be scared
to stand up again after we scrape our knees and fall and stuff and Jesus is like a good scoop of ice cream.
Please try and understand what I am saying here. I am saying to you that Jesus is like an ice cream cone
on a hot day. On hot days Jesus can cool us down. When we want to get mad on a hot day all we need to say is, "Jesus, Jesus,
help me please cause I am mad about this."
God, please give a place for these words to show those here that Jesus is like an ice cream cone on a hot
day. We thank You for this day. Amen.
Keep On Going- March 18, 2007
This message is geared for the young ones facing uncert-ainty and trial
in their lives. For the ones who see every-thing and are often expected to say nothing. Public con-fession of sins means that
one can stand up after being hit hard.
Sometimes we see people in our lives who never seem able to stand up
when the pressure hits hard.
Sometimes we see people in our lives who seem to walk roughly through
every situation, but feel like a simple I love you is going to heal all the cuts and scrapes.
I encourage you to keep on going. When pain comes and touches us up,
we can't lay there we gotta keep on going. When hunger comes by and touches our bellies, we can't lay there we gotta keep
on going. When mama and daddy ain't geting along, we may be confused, but we gotta keep on going. And while we are going on,
we need to remember a few things.
(1) Prayer makes us feel better.
It is true that you as young people will fnd hurts in life, but hurts
give us a new chance to see how God can make us feel better. Prayer is a sign that we trust in God enough to believe HE can
help us.
Just try to pray for mama and dady, just try and pray for brothers and
sisters, for school, for playgrounds, for pets and see what happens.
The scripture says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in every-thing by prayer
and supplication make your requests known unto God."
(2) God hears our prayers in heaven and He answers us.
Sometimes we cry and no one comes to see what we are crying for, but
God is one who hears when we cry for Him and once our prayers, our cries to God, reach heaven, God immediately aswers us and
gives us strength to keep on going.
1Ki 8:45 Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and
maintain their cause.
(3) Our hearts will cry out to God.
God is our Designer. What does a designer do? A
designer designs and creates newness in things. God is our design-er and therefore He is able to design and create newness
in us. No matter what.
God, I ask this day that You show us how to reach these
young people through the power of prayer. Show these young people how to reach You God through prayeing and bringin gto You
their concerns and their troubles. Make us all new as only You can.
Thank You God.
In Jesus Christ 's name, I pray.
Amen.
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The
True Light
I. Saunders
Feb. 18, 2007
John
chapter 1, verses 9 through 12
1:9 He was the true Light, which doth enlighten every man, coming to the world;
1:10 in the world he was, and the world through him was made, and the world did not know him:
1:11 to his own things he came, and his own people did not receive him;
1:12 but as many as did receive him to them he gave authority to become sons of God -- to those believing
in his name,
Father
God, make Your Word real and easy to understand for these children and for those who read this on their behalf. I praise You
right now and I ask that You send Your Holy Spirit to speak a Living Word to their souls. Touch these hearts as only You can,
LORD. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
What is light?
Light is what you need when you
are walking home and the school bus has just let you off at your stop and the sunlight has disappeared. Light is a good thing
to have when you are blowing up a balloon because blowing up a balloon in the dark is just no fun. Light is what we need when
we are lost and need to find our way home where we know safety is. Don’t we need light? Does anyone need any light?
When we hear about Jesus what do
we hear? We hear from these words above that Jesus was the true Light. Wow. Have you ever needed a brighter night light in
your room when the big lights go out at bedtime? Have you ever asked for the bathroom light to be left on so that you can
find your way when everything in the house is dark?
Well, you see, you wanted some true
light. John tells us that Jesus Christ is the true Light, and because he is he is able to be like a night light in our bodies
when its dark in there. Jesus wants to give us light on the inside of ourselves so that we can have hope and not be depressed.
Jesus wants to give us light inside of our minds so that we won’t be worried all the time. Jesus wants to give us light
in our hearts so that we can feel better when we have been crying a lot. Life can make us cry. Falling down hard can make
us cry too can’t it.
You ever fell down and scraped your
knee on the sidewalk? It burns and stings and sometimes makes you feel all yucky until you get to mommy or daddy and can get
it cleaned up with a nice polka dot or Superman bandaid and mommy or daddy saying its going to be all right.
Well, that is exactly what Jesus
does to all of us when we fall down. Jesus comes and takes us by the hand into the house where we can get that scrape all
cleaned up. Jesus gives us that polka dot or Superman bandaid to make us feel better. And Jesus tells us that it is going
to be okay. And you know what…we can go back out and find our friends and start playing all over again. This time we
are ready to show off our new polka dot or Superman bandaid and tell our friends that we have been all cleaned up. It is good
to know a true Light like Jesus Christ.
God, thank You for making this Word
of Yours easy for the children to understand. I ask that You give them what they need to look at another day and smile knowing
that Jesus Christ is the true Light. Fill up what is left behind of this message in Your very own way Father God and I just
lift up the parents of these children and ask that You smooth their hearts to hear You telling them also that Jesus Christ
is the True Light. Until we all find ourselves graciously like You, keep us ever near. In Christ Jesus name. Amen.
The Raging of the Seas: Pride Can Hurt
Let's talk a moment about what ruffles your feathers, what makes you furious, what drives you to become you. Let's
speak for a minute on the way that a young feelow or young lady goes through life in this time and how best it is to deal
with the pressures and the complications of life. Let's talk about PRIDE. What is PRIDE? What does PRIDE look like? How do
you or I know when PRIDE is around? Is PRIDE a good thing to have with you, like your purse or your watch? Can PRIDE get you
into trouble? Let us talk of these things together.
I do know that no matter how hard we may try and answer the question of the gap between young people and adults
communicating together it really boils down to a long and carefully walked process of growing together.
Parents/adults have to meet at the table and engage honest, open, truthful conversation with their young people.
In turn, young people have to come to the table willing to at least try to understand that parents/adults don't see the same
life that you see. I believe that often a familiar statement made among parents is that they are the bosses. What they say
goes and communication becomes entangled with emotion walls going up to defend both sides point of view. I want to say that
to bring a point out for this conversation.
Do you believe that sitting down in front of your parents means more if you, the young person, were able to remove
PRIDE from the situation? Do you feel it would be easier or more difficult to be heard as a person if you would believe that
God was going to work out everything for the good of those who love His ways.
See, this conversation is about raging seas, and a sea cannot rage if there is no wind blowing it or if there are
no earthquakes pushing it. Raging seas come from two directions-one pushing and one pulling against. That is how our families
are becoming when PRIDE is involved. So exactly how do we come to remove PRIDE from the equations of life?
(1) We can pray for God's peace to be with each of us before we sit down at that table to talk of life with all
its concerns.
No, this is not easy. It is a journey that requires committment and determination to see a different result. I
believe that each of you really love your parents deep deep down inside, but your life is always changing as your parents
are too. The key to making a committment work is the presence of love. I am not saying to you to go and do whatever you want
to do. I am not saying to you that your parents are going to want to hear all of your viewpoints without comment, but I am
saying that GOd made you just as He made your parents and when we turn to HIm for peace friom the raging seas of life we experience
when we are to sit down with our parents or whoever to discuss concerns we are better geared up to do so with PRIDE out of
the way.
God bless you and keep watching for GGYL coming soon to a heart and mind and spirit near you. Also keep looking
out for Part 2 of this Raging Seas discussion talking on supply and demand. Keep loving your parents especially in the toughest
times. Keep praying for newness. We love you.
God right now I lift these young people up to you and ask that You keep them all safe and secure in every part
of their lives. Go into the schools O God, be present with them there. Go into the community centers, O God, and be readily
available to them there. You can still speak to their situationsa comforting word, a curing word, a healing word. They have
issues in their lives that we may not know about but we are trusting you God to bring newness to these young people everyday.
No matter their color or any other distinguishing feature that separates them from loving and praying for one another in a
non harmful way. Bring us together that we may grow successfully before You O Lord. In Jesus Name We pray. Amen.
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Come One, Come All!!!!
Mushana Outreach wants to begin having the 2nd Saturday of every month
set aside as Youth Saturday.
On this day we will have the youth conduct the worship service at our
Hill Song location. Following this Youth Day worship service we will have ice cream for everyone.
This ice cream social will be given during the hotter months of
the year. We want to try to have hot chocolate and cider along with some other cooler month foods for the winter months.
Stay in touch and we will keep you informed of new and exciting things
going on in our youth ministry.
Our Saturday services are held at HillSong Church located on Culbreth Road in Chapel Hill, NC.
We want our youth leaders to be as trees planted by the rivers of living water.
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When you walk down streets and stomachs hurt
When your feelings hurt and your plans are dirt
Just look inside and call for help
Jesus came to give you help
When the day goes fast and the hurts are fast
Ask God for mercy and He'll send it in a flash!
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